John 3

There was a man named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, and he was one of the leaders of the Jews.

1There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

NoteThe Pharisees were a religious party known for strict observance of the law of Moses and the detailed traditions built up around it. "A ruler of the Jews" means a member of the Sanhedrin, the council that governed Jewish religious and civil life in Jerusalem, so Nicodemus comes as an official figure, not a private inquirer.

2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi", which means teacher, "we know you are a teacher who has come from God. No one could do the miracles you do unless God were with him."

2The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

NoteWhere the King James has "miracles," the Greek word means "signs." John uses it throughout his book for what Jesus does: acts that point beyond themselves rather than displays of power for their own sake. "Rabbi" was the respectful address for a recognized teacher of the law.

3Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth: no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

3Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Note"Verily, verily" renders the Greek "amen, amen," a formula marking what follows as a solemn declaration. The word behind "born again" is anōthen, which means both "again" and "from above"; the Greek carries both senses at once, and the exchange that follows turns on Nicodemus hearing only one of them. "The kingdom of God" means God's rule or reign, the state of affairs in which God is king, rather than a territory on a map.

4Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he go back inside his mother a second time and be born?"

4Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth: no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Note"Of water and of the Spirit" is a single phrase in Greek, with one preposition governing both nouns rather than two separate births. Readers ancient and modern have connected the water to physical birth, to Jewish ritual washing, and to baptism; the wording itself does not settle which.

6What is born from human parents is human. What is born from the Spirit is spirit.

6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Note"Flesh" here is not the body as opposed to the soul. It is the ordinary human sphere: human beings as they are born, live and die, considered simply as creatures.

7Do not be surprised that I told you, 'You must be born again.'

7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Note"I said unto thee" is singular, spoken to Nicodemus; "ye must be born again" is plural, spoken to a wider group. Modern English has no way to show this shift, but the Greek makes it, and the King James preserves it with "thee" and "ye."

8The wind blows wherever it wants. You hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

NoteThe Greek word pneuma means both "wind" and "spirit," and Jesus is using the single word in both senses in the same sentence. The comparison only fully works in Greek. "Listeth" is older English for "wishes" or "chooses."

9Nicodemus answered him, "How can these things happen?"

9Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

10Jesus answered him, "You are the teacher of Israel, and you do not understand these things?

10Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

Note"Master" in 1611 English meant teacher or schoolmaster, not owner. The Greek has the definite article, "the teacher of Israel," marking Nicodemus as a recognized authority rather than one instructor among many.

11I tell you the truth: we speak about what we know, and we report what we have seen, and still you people do not accept what we tell you.

11Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

Note"Witness" and "testify" are courtroom words in Greek, about giving evidence to something one has personally seen. Both the "we" who speak and the "ye" who do not receive are plural: the conversation has widened out from Nicodemus alone.

12If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

12If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

13No one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

13And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Note"Son of man" is a title drawn from the Hebrew scriptures, where Daniel sees one "like the Son of man" given everlasting dominion. It is the phrase Jesus uses of himself more than any other in the Gospels. The closing words "which is in heaven" are absent from the oldest surviving manuscripts, which is why many modern translations end the verse at "the Son of man."

14And just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up,

14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

NoteThe reference is to an episode in Numbers 21: Israelites in the desert were bitten by poisonous snakes, and Moses was told to mount a bronze snake on a pole so that anyone who looked at it would live. The Greek verb behind "lifted up" means both raised up physically and raised to honor, and John uses it elsewhere of the crucifixion; both senses are in play.

15so that everyone who believes in him will not be lost but will have life forever.

15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Note"Eternal life" translates a Greek phrase meaning literally "the life of the age," the life belonging to the age to come. It carries a sense of a kind of life and of belonging to a coming order, not only of endless duration.

16For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not be lost but will have life forever.

16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Note"So loved" in 1611 English meant "loved in this way" as much as "loved this much," and the Greek word carries the same double sense. "Only begotten" translates monogenēs, which means one of a kind, the only one of its sort; the "begotten" part reflects an old derivation of the word that most scholars now reject. Greek manuscripts had no quotation marks, so it is genuinely unclear whether Jesus' words end at verse 15 or run on to verse 21; translations differ, and this famous verse may be the Gospel writer's own comment.

17God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world could be saved through him.

17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Note"Condemn" here translates a Greek verb whose basic meaning is "to judge." A judgment can come out either way, and the verb does not by itself specify the verdict, though the context here is a verdict against.

18Whoever believes in him is not condemned. Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of God's only Son.

18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Note"The name" is a Hebrew way of speaking in which a person's name stands for the person himself and everything known about him. To believe "in the name" is to trust the person as he has been identified.

19And this is the verdict: the light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light, because the things they did were evil.

19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Note"Condemnation" here is the Greek noun krisis, meaning the act of judging or the verdict arrived at. The image is of a trial reaching its decision, and the decision turns out to be what people did when the light arrived.

20Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come to the light, so that his deeds will not be shown for what they are.

20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Note"Reproved" in 1611 English meant exposed or shown up for what it is, not scolded or told off.

21But whoever lives by the truth comes to the light, so that it can be clearly seen that what he has done was done through God."

21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Note"He that doeth truth" is a Hebrew idiom, found in the Old Testament and in the Dead Sea Scrolls, meaning to act faithfully or deal honestly, rather than to state facts accurately. "Wrought" is the old past participle of "work."

22After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the countryside of Judea. He stayed there with them and baptized people.

22After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.

Note"Tarried" means stayed for a while. "The land of Judaea" means the rural districts of the region, as distinct from Jerusalem, the city where the preceding conversation took place.

23John was also baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People kept coming to him and were baptized.

23And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.

NoteAenon and Salim have never been identified with certainty; the names look like Semitic words for "springs" and "peace." The note about plentiful water matters because baptizing here meant immersing a person, which needs a river or pool rather than a jar or well.

24This was before John had been put in prison.

24For John was not yet cast into prison.

NoteJohn was later arrested and imprisoned by Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. The other Gospels begin Jesus' public work after that arrest, so this aside marks a period when the two men were active at the same time.

25Then an argument started between some of John's disciples and a Jew about washing to become ceremonially clean.

25Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying.

Note"Purifying" means the ritual washings that removed ceremonial uncleanness and made a person fit to take part in worship. Such washings were widely practiced, so the baptisms being performed by both John and Jesus would naturally raise questions about how they related to the established rites. Manuscripts differ over whether the dispute was with "a Jew" or "the Jews."

26They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you spoke about, look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."

26And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.

Note"Beyond Jordan" means the eastern side of the Jordan River as seen from Judea, the area where John had been baptizing earlier.

27John answered, "A person cannot receive anything unless it is given to him from heaven.

27John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

28You yourselves can say that I told you this: I am not the Christ, God's promised chosen one. I was sent ahead of him.

28Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.

29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The bridegroom's friend stands there and listens for him, and he is filled with joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and now it is complete.

29He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

NoteThe bridegroom's friend had a defined role at a Jewish wedding, closer to a best man who made the arrangements and presided over the celebration. His work was over once the bridegroom arrived and the marriage went ahead; his satisfaction came from the other man's day, not his own.

30He must become greater, and I must become less.

30He must increase, but I must decrease.

31The one who comes from above is above everyone. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as someone from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above everyone.

31He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

NoteBecause Greek manuscripts carry no quotation marks, it is unclear whether verses 31 to 36 are still John the Baptist speaking or the writer of the Gospel adding his own comment. Translations divide on it.

32He reports what he has seen and heard, and no one accepts what he says.

32And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.

33Whoever has accepted what he says has confirmed that God tells the truth.

33He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.

Note"Set to his seal" is the language of legal documents: pressing a personal seal onto a paper to certify it as genuine and binding. Accepting the testimony amounts to signing one's name under the statement that God tells the truth.

34For the one God sent speaks the words of God, because God gives him the Spirit without limit.

34For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

NoteThe Greek does not say who gives the Spirit or who receives it; "unto him" in the King James is supplied by the translators and is printed in italics in many editions to show that. The sentence can mean that God gives the Spirit without limit to the one he sent, or that the one he sent gives the Spirit without limit.

35The Father loves the Son and has put everything into his hands.

35The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

Note"Given all things into his hand" is a Hebrew idiom for handing over authority, the way a ruler puts an official in charge of an estate.

36Whoever believes in the Son has life forever. Whoever refuses to believe the Son will not see life. Instead, God's anger stays on him."

36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

NoteThe verb behind "believeth not" is not the negative of the verb behind "believeth" at the start of the verse. It means to refuse or to disobey: an act of will, not a failure to be persuaded. "Wrath" is the standard Greek word for settled anger, the anger of a judge rather than a loss of temper, and "abideth" means remains or goes on resting, describing something already in place that stays there.